Fall 2008 ( 47)

Nobody likes to wait and nobody really enjoys a waiting room. I'm sitting in one next to a man pointedly punching the keys of a sleek handheld wireless device. I'm curious and tempted; my cell phone only handles calls and text messages on its tiny black and white screen. It's starting to look like a hand-me-down.

Let us not delude ourselves. There is more to this business for our association than mere solidarity. We must grasp this opportunity to resolve a fundamental issue: are we an association that defends the interests of its members or an association that sets its sights on representing the whole profession? This is an important distinction.

"What is quality in conference interpreting?" - "Ask a professional!" That is what H. Bühler did in the 1980s, but hardly anybody has done so since. While surveys on user expectations, including one commissioned by AIIC, have yielded rich findings, no systematic research has allowed conference interpreting professionals to have their say on the matter. Interpreting researchers at the University of Vienna are trying to change this, using state-of-the-art technology to literally give a voice to the profession.

There are many similarities between acting and interpreting. Both actor and interpreter receive a coded message which they must understand, inwardly digest and subsequently transmit. Both activities involve communication.

We offer you pages on language diversity and cooperation in South America and northern Europe, official multilingualism in a growing EU, a video from Afghanistan, and controversy surrounding a trial in the USA, plus an introduction to interpreter websites not about interpreting.

Connect with AIIC conference interpreters worldwide

This website is brought to you by UK & Ireland-based AIIC conference interpreters. With over 130 members, AIIC UK & Ireland is the local chapter of the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) and represents the Association in the British Isles.

Founded in 1953, the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) now brings together
3000 professional conference interpreters in more than 250 cities and over 90 countries.